Hikari watched as the water drained from the basin, leaving a pile of relatively clean cloth pieces. She then pressed down on the pile gently, putting a fraction of her weight, squeezing more of the water out. Once done, she loaded the pile onto a cart, and carried it along with its contents towards the cloth lines.
It was a three storey tall structure with wooden platforms and no walls, allowing the wind to dry the laundry en masse. Hikari dropped off some of her cloth pieces on the second platform, and then raised her arms to drop off the rest on the third.
Ria was on the second storey, supervising the RazenHeir laundry detachment. They unclipped the dried batch of laundry and carried it to the opposite side from the wet batch before getting started on the latter. Once the clean laundry had been loaded up, Hikari cranked a lever, lowering the carts back to ground level.
Before long, they were on their way back to their encampment. The difficulties of clothing Hikari out on campaign forced her into a rather revealing outfit. Loose tops that cover until just below her chests, extremely short pants that left her thighs exposed. At least she still had a pair of clean boot socks.
"This part of town has gotten lively, hasn't it. It was quite deserted when we first moved in."
Hikari scanned her surroundings. The town became something of a tourist attraction over just under a week since they moved in. It's not really a wonder as to why. In fact, she could sense many more inhabitants who are here for questionable purposes than those wandering in the open.
Five in the bushes to their left. Seven on the hill tops. Two on the tallest tree. Six on the second floor of the laundry store. They were quite well hidden from the naked eye since a camouflage merchant showed up two days ago. From what Ria could gather, he has already sold out his entire stock of fifty gillie suits with more on the way.
"Ria, add twenty." Hikari replied coldly.
"Eeek! I Apologize Hikari!"
"What does the general say?"
"Not much. Ahem! I deeply regret the current situation. I will make additional clothing arrangements for the champion knight Hikari to compensate for the ones that have gone missing for rather conspicuous reasons. Rest assured, those caught will be dealt the appropriate punishment. Beyond that, moving to another location would complicate the logistics. I would also note that the current arrangement, for reasons I cannot discern, has drastically reduced the rates of desertion amongst the men. Meanwhile, keep up the good work."
They returned to their camp. A mined out cave had been repurposed to accommodate Hikari. Quite a livable place, once the dust and the loose sand have been cleared out and some tentage cloth had been hammered into the walls to reduce the echos.
For the past few days, Hikari had been a sandworm magnet. She patrolled up and down the road from the trading town to the forward base. The sand worms are very sensitive to vibrations in the ground. In particular the vibrations of their prey's heartbeat is what guides them to their next meal. Or in this case, their swift demise.
Eventually, the sandworm attacks petered out and Hikari got a well deserved break.
She sat down on her bed, back straight, legs stretched out, feet on the ground and began meditating. An important process for mana wielders to relieve the stress on their bodies especially after prolonged periods of intense combat.
Then, Ria bowed down at her socked feet and began kissing the tops.
"You were great out there. The forward post is done. Smooch* Smooch*."
Hikari ignored her, focusing on healing her sore muscles and calming her mana flow. She replayed the previous battle in her head. Defeating individual sandworms wasn't an issue, but she needs to find ways to conserve stamina, minimize movements, especially the sudden ones which causes her muscle sores afterwards.
Her flames waves that cut through the sandworks were impressive, but it costs too much mana. It's also a problem with flames is that they are great for hit and run but lack immediate stopping power.
Soon, it was lunch time. A stable hand shouted from the entrance of her enclave, asking to be let in.
Hikari opened her eyes. She saw an exhausted Ria hugging her foot.
Bending forward, she cast restore on her, giving her enough energy to stand up.
"Come in!"
A team of stablehands pushed a cartful of raw food, mostly grains, radishes, potatoes and a kind of bright green plant used as fodder for giants, plus a slab of minced meat. Another team pushed a cart carrying a water tank. The last stablehand carried a jar of oil.
Hikari picked up the food cart and poured all of its contents into her pot, followed by emptying the water tank. The stable hand feeds the oil into the stove below, cranked a level several times, starting the cooking process.
Meanwhile, Ria's attendant brought her lunch in a brown claypot, probably the most sophisticated crockery around the entire camp.
She placed it on her makeshift table as she waited for Hikari's lunch to cook.
Then they waited.
"You really did it."
"Oh, you mean kissing your feet once for every sandworm tooth you bring back? "
"Is it that many?"
"Hehe~. It is. In fact, you killed so many sandworms that I still owe you quite a number."
Hikari looked away, she was blushing a little.
"What's wrong? Am I making you feel big, powerful, and omnipotent?"
"Stop it"
"Ah, but I have little else to offer you. I can't believe I have to resort to feeding you plant fodder."
"Thats fine."
The lid rattled as steam began escaping the pot. Hikari pressed on it with her finger. Every bit of heat is precious when out in the field. Any kind of cooking fuel is quite the luxury.
"There's something else you could do for me."
"There is?"
"Your mana form."
"Really? I didn't think it would be of any use to you." Ria was pleasantly surprised.
"Your mana pool is too small to use it. But I can amplify it."
"Right! Let's get to it."
Ria walked around behind Hikari and sat down, placing both palms on the towering wall of flesh. As she connects her mana channels to Hikari's, she is instantly thrown back but by the overwhelming weight of her mana.
"Try again. Slower"
Hikari healed Ria, who had a brief concuss as the back of her head hit the bedding. Then she tried again. Very slowly and gradually allowing her hand to come into contact with Hikari. Then she started moving her mana.
As Ria moved her mana, Hikari mirrored her.
Ba dum! Ba dum! The titanic heartbeats felt like earthquakes.
Every little movement she made, she felt like she was controlling a whale. A hyper intelligent whale that mimicked her movements fluidly and with amazing accuracy.
After just three repetitions, the whale was moving on its own, repeating exactly the pattern of movement that she had taken over a year to learn. Now, she felt that she was the one being led. It felt like riding a whale through a hurricane.
"Thats enough."
Ria felt dizzy after having undergone a brief but incredibly intense mana training session, peering into the depths of Hikari's bottomless well of power. Meanwhile, Hikari continued practicing on her own for a bit while she recovered.
"Its good"
"You don't have to encourage me."
"No really. It's not as potent as Lady Razenheir's. But it's stable, and it doesn't cost as much mana."
"You are not making it up are you?"
"No. In fact, I'll use it."
"I'm honored."
Hikari opened her pot and the smell of freshly boiled and seasoned vegetables filled the cave.
"Let's eat."